For a wildlife photographer it’s been a very good few days. Deer all around, bighorn sheep at Cottonwood Lake and and the Cripple Creek elk herd early this morning. The elk were not too far from the trailhead when we arrived so we had to be stealthy exiting the truck. Got off a couple of shots before they noticed me and headed over the top of the mountain. The plan then was to sneak around the north side below the summit and come across from behind the trees.
This time the plan came together. When I crossed over the summit the elk were spread out in the big meadow at the top with a row of pine trees between me and them. Even with Big Dog along we were able to approach the trees and get a bit closer before causing too much alarm. Eventually we did attract their attention again and they began slowly meandering towards the safety of the dense forest. I took that as a cue that we were as close as we were going to get so I just stopped there and snapped a few images in some nice aspen trees as they continued their daily migration. As we made our way down from the summit I looked back and was glad to see that my photography had not unnecessarily disturbed the majestic beasts. They were lingering on the edge of the trees, still enjoying their morning meal 🙂
Also thought I would include in this post a couple of images from the road trip to Cottonwood Lake near Buena
Vista, the lake was beautiful in the frozen alpine winter. It will be a while before spring reaches that elevation! The final image in this post is the Platte River near Denver as it flows out of the mountains on it’s journey to the Missouri River in Nebraska.
As always, these images and more are available for purchase on my website as wall art on glossy metal or acrylic sheets, stretched canvas and traditional matting and framing. These can be found in the wildlife collection. I put the lake in the Rocky Mountain Winter collection as well as the Bodies of Water collection. Don’t forget that my pictures can be ordered on a variety of cool gift items, handy tech gadgets, apparel and stationary! Just click on a image to see the product pricing and options!
